Hi, everyone. It’s been a nice little stretch, lately. Disintegration is only seven copies away from 400!

Many thanks to those recent purchasers (and, of course, to all of you who have already supported my book). Some of the recent orders have come from authors participating in the current Nerdist Space Opera contest!

Be sure to check out The Life Interstellar (if you remember Verhoeven’s RoboCop, you’ll love the narrative voice of this story. Zack Jordan is doing a great job with world-building. Follow his book and be entertained by his updates!), The Traveller’s Cup (I love the premise of this story: it has a bit of a Hunger Games feel, but the scope is much grander and it involves SPACE DRAGONS!), Infinity Mind (its plot is reminiscent of Philip K. Dick’s "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale". Mars. Brainwashing. But ... Assassins!) and Champions of the Third Planet (this book is the contest leader. In this tale, five kids band together to save Earth from a faraway threat).

Please, if you haven’t yet ordered a copy of Disintegration, do so now. Help me reach another milestone in my quest to be a fully funded Inkshares author, with all the rights and privileges that affords (Fame! Fortune! Or, at least, royalty checks and rigorous editing!).

Support art and artists! Support independent authors (me! the people I mentioned above!) and publishing companies (Inkshares!).

That is all. :)

Wow, guys! Wow, wow, wow. 

Would you believe we went up 10 pre-orders in a day? I knew you could make it happen. So as promised, by tomorrow you’ll have a brand new sample chapter! 

The level of encouragement I’m seeing from you all is astounding. It reminds me why I started this book in the first place: to reach people like you with a wacky idea for a space opera. 

Now for the important news...

This is officially the last week of the Nerdist Space Opera Contest! Next Tuesday the contest will close, and that means that whichever authors have books in the top three will be set up with a publication deal. 

If we aren’t there it means we’ll have to work a lot harder in the future to make sure this book sees the light of day. I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather finish this now so I can make sure the book goes to market in this collection.

Again, this is referral week! I’ll reiterate what that means for the newcomers and folks who don’t read the bottoms of every email:

If you refer three people to pre-order this week you’ll get: 

•  A signed first-edition draft version of the book complete with random scribbles of frustration
  
  
• A collection of sketches of characters and setting, 10 in total, as a bound art-book
  
  
• A pack of 10 Traveller’s Cup bookmarks

• A custom Traveller’s Cup mug so you can enjoy your hot caffeinated beverage of choice with your new book

All of these items will be delivered physically to you after the release date, complete with a spacey thank you note. If you refer by word of mouth, that counts too. Just send me an email or message telling me how you know the person. 

So with that out of the way, I again want to say a space-sized thank you to you. You belong in this crew because of your dedication to our mission: to make more space books and send them to the worlds beyond. 

Your Overworked But Determined Space Captain Whose Blood is Now Caffeine,
-AC

Greetings, Travellers!

Let me start by wishing you the best possible Monday. This weekend has been filled with your encouragement, which I needed to curb my panic at the approaching Nerdist deadline. 

Here’s the link to the contest and where we stand: https://www.inkshares.com/contests/nerdist-space-opera-contest

We’re doing well. If we double our pre-orders we’ll hit 3rd. And coming in 3rd still means a publishing contract, so I need your help to make sure that happens. Last week I issued the word of mouth challenge, and a lot of you must have responded because the orders spiked a lot. 

This week I’m looking at referrals. If you refer three people to pre-order this week you’ll get: 

•  A signed first-edition draft version of the book complete with random scribbles of frustration
  
  
• A collection of sketches of characters and setting, 10 in total, as a bound art-book
  
  
• A pack of 10 Traveller’s Cup bookmarks

• A custom Traveller’s Cup mug so you can enjoy your hot caffeinated beverage of choice with your new book

All of these items will be delivered physically to you after the release date, complete with a spacey thank you note. 

If you refer by word of mouth, that counts too. Just send me an email or message telling me how you know the person. 

Up, up, and away!
-AC